Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 31, 1992 TAG: 9201310452
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
KIDS WITH GUNS: `THIS MUST STOP'
"THERE IS something wrong with a community that is not standing up, raising hell and saying `This must stop,"' says Lt. Jerry Dean, Roanoke's top juvenile police officer. "We've got ticking time bombs walking the streets out here."The time bombs are young people carrying deadly firearms - and Dean is right to be upset. His comments came after three teen-agers were arrested Monday in gun-related incidents in Roanoke. Also this week, a series of stories in this newspaper depicted alarming increases in gun possession - and use - among local youths.
Every day, the ticking gets louder.
The pro-gun lobby deplores the phenomenon of unsupervised kids with guns. Children, many gun owners will say, need to be taught responsibility and safety. Gun control is a joke, they'll add: New York City and D.C. have those ordinances, and look at all the gun-related crime there.
But just one reason for that is the lack of strict gun control in nearby jurisdictions. Virginia is a favorite spot for runners to stock up on firearms they sell at inflated prices elsewhere.
State law requires an instant check of a purchaser's police record; it has nabbed many felons, but it can also be evaded. As an example, authorities cite one Owen George Francis of the Bronx, N.Y. He drove into Virginia, gave a false Fairfax County address and promptly got a state driver's license - no questions asked - and proceeded to buy an armful of handguns for resale on his home grounds.
Nineteen-year-old Anthony Lamont Kasey, killed last Sept. 6 in a Northwest Roanoke shootout, had been carrying guns since he was 14. Adults were his procurers; one got Kasey more than a dozen weapons, some of which police found later in New York and New Jersey. Such traffic is common among youths.
The gun lobby cites evasions of gun-control laws to argue that they're worthless. That is akin to saying it's OK to pour gasoline on a raging fire. What's needed are stronger (and more uniform) gun controls.
Roanoke Vice Mayor Howard Musser said Wednesday he'll seek a report on whether City Council can enact a tougher gun policy - a constructive move. City government, schools and police should combine efforts to study the problem. Parents ought not to be frightened to send their children to school, but we all need to become more aware of the threat posed by the proliferation of firearms among kids.
More law-enforcement is needed. But - as with drug use, violence and other reckless acts to which youth are prone - curbing gun possession requires that society deal with causes as well as symptoms.
As they have begun doing in Roanoke, police need to improve contacts with people in neighborhoods they patrol. They need to establish trust and assure residents that their main role is to promote peace and good order, in part through good relationships.
Schools, of course, must warn youngsters of the dangers of guns - and wrongdoing in general. But educators and other public servants are asked to do too much of what should be done by parents and families. Those are traditionally the prime shapers of values and behavior, as well as nurturers of the young. Increasingly, their place has been usurped by the streets and other mindless influences; in some homes there are indifference and neglect, in others virtual despair.
Changing that picture will not be easy. But in unity there is strength. Caring and concerned parents can meet with others in their neighborhoods to discuss and set common goals. They can join their efforts with those of community institutions and youth activities to involve themselves more closely in their children's lives, to monitor their actions and reclaim, as elders, their rightful formative roles.
Kids don't need guns. They need the love, support, understanding and example found in sound homes and strong neighborhoods. We needn't surrender to violence. If we do, we cannot say we hadn't already glimpsed what it could bring.